Each year the BOSS Young Executives program unearths six talented leaders under 35 after they undergo a simulated day in the life of a CEO run by leadership development experts DDI.

"In terms of a common theme, what I noticed this year was a very strong commitment to community, to corporate and social responsibility. It is usually there in the Young Executive winners, but this year there was an overwhelming bias towards that.”

The observation from Michael Rebelo, chief executive of advertising group Publicis Communications in Australia and New Zealand, is quickly echoed by his two fellow judges of BOSS Young Executives 2018.

“Sometimes people try to pad out their CV to make [it] look good. But when you actually asked [this group] individually about some of the things they were doing in the community, you could see their faces light up,” says Bonnie Boezeman, chair of e-commerce group ShopReply.

“I was really pleasantly surprised with the number of extracurricular roles they had been doing over the years and the contributions they have made,” adds Nerida Caesar, a director of Westpac.

It is high praise from the three judges, who all have distinguished careers under their belts. A glance at the winners’ resumes suggests the praise is deserved.

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Christina Na-Heon Cho, a director at Cox Architecture, sits on the Property Industry Foundation, which tackles youth homelessness; Mary Aldred, chief executive of the Franchise Council of Australia, is a former director of Lifeline Gippsland and a former secretary to the Pakenham Basketball Referees Association; Patricia O’Callaghan, chief executive of Townsville Enterprise, sits on the Queensland Community Foundation; Shiva Storer, head of strategy and execution at Westpac, is involved in supporting a Tamil community in Sri Lanka; Jane Moran, Newcastle manager at engineering advisory company Aurecon, is an active co-ordinator of Movember activities, which support prostate cancer; and Sai Shankhar, general manager of analytics at Greenstone Financial Services, teaches computer literacy to immigrants.

Important milestone

The fact that community participation was a common theme among this year’s winners points to the expectations of today’s leaders, the judges suggest.

This year is an important milestone for the BOSS Young Executives program, which is run in conjunction with DDI (Development Dimensions International). It marks the 15th year of the competition, which culminates in a simulation exercise.

Leadership is about being agile

Authenticity is really important

There’s a human impact as well

YOUNG EXECUTIVES

I love working with teams

I felt like I had raced a couple of triathlons

Today it’s leadership by inspiration

It’s about trusting your team

How the original Young Executives flourished

In May, 10 finalists took part in a “day-in-the-life” of the president of a $28 billion artificial intelligence company. The simulation included analysing business data, developing a strategic business plan, presenting a vision and influencing a key business partner. Afterwards, the finalists were given extensive feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.

“These insights can profoundly catapult the course of our Young Executives’ leadership path and the people who they inspire,” says Andrew Warren-Smith, managing director of DDI Australia.

Over the years, the judges have chosen well. Of the 90 previous winners,14 per cent are now chief executives, and 22 per cent are in the C-suite.

Boezeman suggests that more than ever, this year’s Young Executives winners will need to be able to inspire. Part of the challenge these days, given changing attitudes towards long-term, stable employment, is retaining staff. Inspire them and they are less likely to leave.

“If they feel inspired by the CEO, they’re gonna love their job, and they’re going to really put in as many hours as it takes to really make him or her happy," Boezeman says. "It’s all in that one person."

The other issue is that staff may well be working remotely, making it harder for the boss to walk the floor, gauge the mood and talk to individual staff members.